August 13, 2015 –ALASKA — On July 31, O’Hara Corporation launched the first American fishing vessel that will be able to chase fish through polar ice off the coast of Alaska.
Now in its fifth generation, the O’Hara family business has shown the ability to adapt as fishing technology, two world wars, and changes in international fisheries laws upended the industry.
“Every generation had its bad thing to deal with,” said Frank O’Hara Jr. from the O’Hara Corporation headquarters on Tillson Avenue in Rockland. Born in 1960, he is actually the fourth Francis J. O’Hara and is the company vice president. One of his three sons is the fifth-generation Frank. His father, who was Frank Jr. and is now Frank Sr., 84, is the company president.
All of the fifth generation is in the family business and working in management.
Frank Jr.’s great-grandfather started the fishing family dynasty in 1904 when he launched a Gloucester sailing vessel, the Francis J. O’Hara, Jr., which fished for cod, haddock, and halibut off of Georges Bank until it was sunk by a German U-boat in 1918.
The vessel’s namesake got a $5,000 family loan to start his own business: the Atlantic and Pacific Seafood Company in Boston.
Read the full story at The Free Press